


Car-Pool

by emothy



Category: Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-03
Updated: 2007-01-03
Packaged: 2017-10-04 05:30:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emothy/pseuds/emothy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One-sided Fuji/Tachibana, Fuji/Tezuka. Tachibana learns to drive and Fuji learns about peer pressure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Car-Pool

-

It's like they're all seventeen; sexually confident, socially inept, and Tachibana pulling up outside Seigaku High every afternoon still radiating pride at passing his driving test as the music pulses just loudly enough to be heard outside of the car, but not too loud to disturb anyone; he is courteous.

"Hey, Fuji, want a ride?" He asks cheerily as the tennis club members exit the school gates in a clump. There are various looks of curiosity, surprise and awe spread among the Regular's faces, except for their Buchou, who always looks on the verge of murdering someone anyway; his own teammates in all probability, so that doesn't count for anything.

"Mmm..." Fuji is about to decline, he knows it.

"Come on, let me show you my driving skills just once at least." Tachibana catches his eye and pulls out a pleading look he wouldn't give just anyone. He sees Fuji hesitate, and grins.

"As you say." Fuji concedes, breaking away from the group and heading for the car. Tachibana has turned away to adjust the music to something else, something Fuji might prefer. He does not see the split second wherein Tezuka curls his fingers around the strap of Fuji's bag just hard enough for him to feel the weight on it as he moves away. It does not break his step, does not hold him back, but Fuji acknowledges it with a twitch of his fingers by his side, like a miniscule wave goodbye and see you later.

The next day Tachibana is there again, and Fuji seems perplexed, but the expression sits for only a second on his face before his kouhai Momoshiro is yammering about how lucky Fuji is to have a friend old enough to drive (shooting his senpais looks like they should have learnt for themselves ages ago too so that they could cart him around wherever he wished to go), and Eiji is whining that Fuji is so lucky he won't have to walk home in the _coooooooold!_ Tachibana pretends not to hear this; neglects to offer anyone else a ride home, ever.

It's like his friends make the decision for him, and Tachibana can't find it in him to care that time how Fuji gets into his passenger seat, as long as he is there in the end.

One evening, Tachibana suspects he goes too far when he reaches for something in the glove compartment and brushes a hand right over Fuji's leg. They are friends, but physical contact has always been sparse. Fuji flinches, but does not say anything either to voice approval or outrage at Tachibana's behaviour. It could have been innocent. The next day, however, Tachibana notices he is more reluctant than usual to come into the vacinity of the car.

"What's the matter, Fuji? Have you and Tachibana-san had an argument?" Oishi tries to be tactful and quiet in his concern, but he speaks a lot louder than he intended to, perhaps something to do with Eiji's hand suddenly appearing on his back... No, wait, lower than that.

"No," Fuji says, mumbles almost, except that he would not do something that would make him look so awkward and out of control of the situation. He ducks his head two centimetres lower than he would usually, Inui notes to himself, and heads sullenly for the car, fingers touching the frame just moments after Tachibana opens it from the inside as usual. It's the next best thing to getting out and opening the door for him. He knows that would be one step too far.

Captain Tezuka looks as though he is about to let loose a rumble of thunder along with an onminous lightning strike in the sky, and Tachibana wonders who took a wrong step during practice today. Or how many of them. A shade of the anger, a small one albeit, seems directed at his own vice-captain.

Tachibana pulls away; if he asks the right questions, perhaps Fuji will tell him the answer.

After nearly four weeks solid of picking Fuji up after school and dropping him home, Tachibana turns up one afternoon to find the tennis team Regulars coming out, minus two. Their captain, and Fuji.

"I don't think Fuji will be appearing any time soon, Tachibana-san," Inui says politely, coughing to try and hide his discomfort. He neglects to mention their captain at all.

"They're just having a discussion, about tennis I believe!" Oishi stutters it almost perfectly, proving to everyone around who had suspected it was true, that it clearly was not.

"The order for the next matches, ne Oishi?" Eiji nods along, placing a reassuring hand on Oishi's shoulder, who seems to take strength from the support.

"I see." Tachibana says, and knows Kawamura and Momoshiro are blinking in surprise because the tone of voice is the darkest and most serious they've ever heard from him. "Well then, there's no need for me to hang around. See you guys later."

"And now _he's_ mad!" Momo sighs in exasperation. "That's it, I need a burger!"

"Nya, a burger, you say?" Eiji says, ears practically pricking up hopefully. "I can go for that, since it's your treat! Come on Oishi!"

"Eiji-senpai, I didn't-!"

"Well, that disposes of the issue for one day." Fuji says, picking at the snagged stitch on his school jacket.

"I don't like this." Tezuka says, pacing in the most humerous way possible. He takes one step, two, and three. Then realises he is pacing, and stops. For about two seconds, and then he is off again. Even Fuji smiles half-heartedly over it. "I don't like this at all."

"I didn't realise his intent until it was too late." Fuji sighs. "And I'm reluctant to sever a good friendship."

"He has done that himself." Tezuka insists, crossing his arms over his chest. "You dread going home in the afternoons now because you know he is going to be there waiting."

"I don't want to cause trouble." Fuji says. "Everyone else-"

"_Everyone else_ meddles in affairs beyond their scope." Tezuka says harshly, and for him to interrupt means he is annoyed beyond belief.

"Tezuka..." Fuji says, looking up at him with a lost sheen to his eyes. "How can I confront him over it when he has not truly done anything wrong?"

"_Yet_."

"Are you saying then I should wait until he does?"

Tezuka's eyes dart to the side and back; his only concession to being out of his depth. There are no good options anymore, and technically this is nothing to do with him as far as anyone else is concerned.

"I suppose I could say something." He offers eventually. Fuji rightly absorbs this as a monumentous offer, but seems to realise this is no reason to give the game away, and smiles ironically.

"Somehow I just can't picture you walking up to Tachibana and telling him firmly but politely to 'keep his hands off your man'." Tezuka's lips thin as he presses them harder together.

"So I wouldn't put it exactly like that..." he begins.

"-And besides, it takes two. I've been getting into that car every evening of my own free will; no-one forces me."

"But you only do it..." Tezuka trails off here, unable to find sufficient words. Everything that threatens to come out sounds cheesy.

"To keep us a secret." Fuji says finally, softly, but it hangs over the room like Damocles' sword. "To keep Momo and Eiji off my back, asking about Tachibana, and how things are between us, and if we have argued. This way they think they see it plain as day, so they don't have to ask anything."

"Charades upon charades." Tezuka muses. Fuji does not reply.

The next day Tachibana debates his possibilities, and decides to just go and behave as usual. Act as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened; the Seigaku Regulars had seemed tense, but they hadn't seemed to know the details of Fuji and their captain's exchange; much to the dismay of some, like their data-collector. When he is alone with Fuji, that will be the time to find out why he was brushed off. Until then he can pretend like everything is fine.

He is so intent on watching Fuji and his captain that day, that he sees something, the briefest of things. Fuji steps past Tezuka to head towards the car as normal, and their hands brush against one another as he does so. The captain does not even flinch, possibly Tachibana imagines it when he thinks he sees Tezuka's hand raise up an inch or so as though to follow Fuji's as it glides by.

Something snaps into place in his head, something he perhaps suspected before and just refused to see. He sits on this information all the way home, barely making conversation at all, lest he pounce on Fuji. He's not sure right now whether it would result in kissing, or killing. The jealousy rushes through his bloodstream, reaching every body part in record time. He almost doesn't have a chance to make a decision, or even say anything either way, because he is outside Fuji's house before he really registers it, and Fuji is slipping out of the door without saying thank you, as is his way. Tachibana reaches out wildly, snatching at Fuji's hand and pinning it to the seat.

"You owe me." He says simply, unable to finish his thought. Fuji therefore, misinterprets it; or perhaps he doesn't and only pretends he does on purpose. It would be like him.

"If you were wanting some kind of compensation for your troubles, you only had to say." He says coldly, snatching back his hand, but pausing at the open door. "You might recall I didn't ask for you to drop me home every day in the first place."

Tachibana grits his teeth. "You could have just walked away."

"It seemed easier just to go with the flow, for the sake of everyone else." Fuji says. He dismisses it with a hand gesture. "I don't like people prying. And, for a while, it was fun to rattle Tezuka because of it."

"Just _Tezuka_?" Tachibana says accusingly. "Not even 'Captain' Tezuka, or 'my Captain'?"

"I did not realise it was up to you how I referred to my friends. You are 'just Tachibana' to me, also. That I do not often give him his title is another source of irritation for _my captain_." The bite in his tone is only noticeable if you know Fuji well, which Tachibana does.

"He isn't here to hear it right now though." Tachibana points out.

"Unfortunate, no?" Fuji says blankly. "Goodnight, Tachibana."

"I didn't have to tell him," Fuji tells Tezuka the next day before anyone else gets to practice, "but I'm pretty sure he already knows."

"Then we should stay one step ahead of the game." Tezuka says, and Fuji nods in agreement, and smiles and pretends it isn't pent-up jealousy that makes Tezuka kiss him longer than usual, long enough for most of the Regulars to walk in and see enough that they couldn't possibly mistake who really has the interest in Fuji worth noting. Or who has Fuji's interest in return.

-


End file.
